Resources
Where to go from here.
Curated resources for people living with anosmia, their families, clinicians and researchers studying it, and anyone working to understand smell loss better. This list is updated as the field grows.
Jump to: Safety · Living with anosmia · Research centers · Allied organizations · Reading
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Safety with anosmia
Smell is a warning sense — and people who can’t smell often learn this the hard way. A few essentials every household with anosmia should have, and a habit or two worth building.
Natural gas leak detectors
Natural gas is odorized specifically so people can detect leaks. If you can’t smell, you need a hardware backup. Plug-in or battery-powered natural gas detectors are inexpensive and widely available. If you have a gas stove, gas heat, or any gas appliance in your home, this is the single most important safety device you can install.
Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms
Working smoke alarms on every level of your home and outside every sleeping area. Carbon monoxide detectors on every level, especially near bedrooms. CO is odorless to everyone, but people with anosmia can’t catch the secondary indicators — vehicle exhaust drift, a faulty furnace, a generator running too close to the house. Check batteries twice a year.
Food safety
Don’t rely on the sniff test. Use printed dates as your primary signal, do a visual inspection, and when something is borderline, throw it out or ask a household member to check. Date-mark leftovers when you put them in the fridge so you’re never guessing how old something is.
Living with anosmia
Communities, training resources, and practical support.
Smell training
Smell training — repeated, structured exposure to specific odors over weeks or months — has been shown in multiple studies to help some people regain or improve smell function after viral or traumatic loss. AbScent is the most established global resource, with free training kits and protocols. The classic four oils — rose, eucalyptus, lemon, and clove — are the standard starting set.
Peer community
Finding other people who can’t smell is meaningful. Online communities — including the r/Anosmia subreddit, AbScent’s community forums, and patient organization member groups — let you compare notes, share workarounds, and know that none of what you’re experiencing is in your head.
Patient organizations
Several patient-led organizations support people with anosmia worldwide. SmellTaste (UK, formerly Fifth Sense) offers a member community and research collaboration. STANA serves North America. AbScent provides UK and international support. Smaller country-specific organizations exist in several other regions.
Research and clinical centers
For clinicians seeking specialty referral or researchers looking for collaborators, the major smell and taste centers globally.
United States
Monell Chemical Senses Center (Philadelphia) — the world’s leading independent research institute for chemical senses
University of Pennsylvania Smell and Taste Center — clinical evaluation, treatment, and research
University of Florida Center for Smell and Taste — research and clinical care
University of Connecticut Health — chemical senses research and clinic
United Kingdom
SMEL Sheffield — pediatric smell loss clinic, the first of its kind in the UK
University of East Anglia — olfactory research and post-COVID smell loss studies
Europe and elsewhere
Technische Universität Dresden (Germany) — leading European smell research center
Karolinska Institute (Sweden) — chemical senses research
University of Padua (Italy) — post-COVID olfactory research
Allied organizations
Organizations and consortia advancing smell loss awareness, research, and patient support.
SmellTaste (UK) — patient organization (formerly Fifth Sense); resources, member community, research collaboration
AbScent — smell training resources, online community, post-COVID support
STANA — Smell and Taste Association of North America
BeCOH — Better Care for Olfactory Health; multi-stakeholder consortium launched 2025
EUFOREA — European Forum for Research and Education in Allergy and Airway Diseases
FlavorActiV — specialized in flavor and parosmia research
Trusted reading
A starting point if you want to go deeper.
Books
Smellosophy by A.S. Barwich — a philosophical and scientific examination of olfaction
What the Nose Knows by Avery Gilbert — accessible introduction to the science of smell
The Scent of Desire by Rachel Herz — emotional and psychological dimensions of smell
Papers and articles
Peer-reviewed literature on smell loss has grown rapidly since 2020. PubMed is the most reliable starting point for clinical and research papers — search terms like “anosmia,” “olfactory dysfunction,” “smell training,” or “parosmia” return the current body of work. For accessible science journalism on the topic, look to the work being done by Monell and the smell-and-taste community on their respective sites.
Don’t see what you need?
This list grows because our community keeps building it. If you know a resource we should add — a research center, a patient organization, a particularly good paper or book — let us know.